My First Official Weekend in Czech!

Friday (2/15/13):

I started the morning by attending a lecture on intercultural communication and Czech culture!  The professor made many interesting points.  He talked about how we each see things from a different perspective based on our nationality.  He also spoke about different stereotypes we each might have about people of different countries and how it can be fun to see if the stereotypes are true or not!  He said that the stereotype of the Czechs is that they drink a lot of beer, which he said is true. :) He then picked up a bottle and took a drink and said, "This is water." :) He then briefly explained Czech culture and the general attitude of the Czechs in public.  On the outside, the Czech people appear cold and distant.  They don't make eye contact or smile in public.  They don't make small talk with strangers and in public are very quiet.  Sometimes if I am with some friends on the tram and we are talking and then stop for a second, I realize how loud we are because the tram is absolutely silent!  This brings me to another point he made about how by being in a new culture, you often learn a lot about your own culture!  I have found this to be very true.  So far, I have learned that Americans are pretty loud. :) The professor further explained that just because the Czech people appear sad and distant, it doesn't mean that they are at all!  That is just how this culture appears in public.  They are very happy and smiley people once you get to know them. :) 

Next, we went to the canteen and I accidentally ordered a vegetarian meal with fake meat!  I didn't realize this until afterwards though.  I was wondering the whole time what kind of meat I was eating ha!  It was pretty good though and I learned that the positive about ordering a vegetarian meal is VEGETABLES!  Vegetables are hard to come by here so it is very exciting when I get to eat them!

We had our last day of Survival Czech, but I liked it so much that I signed up for the semester-long course!  After class, we went to Tesco and I saw the other floors of the store!  It is a great place!  It is always a gamble when buying food though, because the majority of the food labels are in Czech.  This adventurous food-lover finds this to be quite fun actually!  I have done pretty well so far.  I managed to get normal milk (my friend accidentally got buttermilk!), smoked turkey, and smoked cheese of some sort.  My new favorite food is the smoked turkey and smoked cheese sandwich on fresh bread!  Yumm. :) Also, everything is very inexpensive!  It's great!  I got quite a bit of food for only $10 and so far have had 9 meals and several snacks from this one Tesco trip. :)  

Later that night, a group of us went to get dessert at the place near our dorm (I really need to learn the name of it).  I got "honey cake" and it was very good!  

Saturday (2/16/13) : 

We bundled up and headed to Macocha Caves.  It was about an hour by bus.  We drove through the rolling hills and weaved in and out of what reminded me of a ski resort (especially with all the snow!).  Once we arrived, we had a twenty minute walk to get to the caves.  Someone described it as being like Narnia and I can't think of a better description!  My camera stopped working shortly after we got there, but that's okay because pictures surely cannot do it justice!

The first part of the tour through the cave was on foot.  Our tour guide stopped and talked about many different stalagmite and stalactite formations, but my favorite one was one they call "Romeo & Juliet".  These are directly opposite from each other and were in the (long) process of joining each other!  Since there is no water there anymore though, they will never be together!  If there were still water, then it would take approximately 750 years for them to finally close the 2 inch gap!

Romeo & Juliet (I stole this pic from the internet)

We walked further and then all of a sudden turned the corner and saw the highlight of the tour: the abyss!  I think each of our jaws dropped at the beautiful sight that was before us.  Someone jokingly asked, "Am I in Heaven?" and that is truly what it felt like!  The dramatic angelic music they had playing in the background added to the accuracy of this question.  There was also snow which just added to the beauty of the abyss! It was absolutely breathtaking.  

The abyss.  There was snow when I was there though! (Another stolen picture)

The second part of the tour was by boat through the caves.  This was really fun and something I had never done before!  

Where we ended our boat tour!

After the tour, we went and ate lunch at the restaurant there.  They only gave us 2 options in order to conserve time since we were a big group.  Our options were chicken schnitzel (fried chicken, basically) and potatoes or fried cheese and potatoes!  These are two very Czech meals.  I went with the chicken schnitzel and topped it off with some lovely carbonated water because the waiter did not understand when I said "still" water.  Oops!  I need to learn the Czech word for still water or keep drinking carbonated water until I'm used to it! :) 

The restaurant and gift shop.

When I got back from our excursion, I was able to Skype with my family for the first time!  It was so wonderful to see their faces and hear their voices!  It made my heart so happy!

Sunday (2/17/13): 

Today was wonderful.  It was the most free time I had since being here.  I slept in and then went with a group to Špilberk Castle.  Špilberk Castle is an old castle here in Brno that sits on top of a huge hill.  We just did the free walking around the outside of the castle this day.  It is a really neat castle and I can't wait to come back and explore more!  (I can do that because I live in a town with castles...how cool is that?!) ;) Since the castle is on top of a hill, there are some pretty amazing views of Brno!

Me standing in front of my beautiful city, Brno!

Špilberk Castle

After the castle, a few of us went to a flea market inside a club that also was selling many amazing desserts.  How is that for a strange combination!  

Later, I met my tutor and she took me to the Faculty of Sports Studies to show me where some of my classes would be!  The Faculty of Sports Studies is right next to the main university building.  The best part is that right across the street is a MALL!  I am not a big shopper or anything, but this is very exciting to me because in Kirksville, we have to drive 1.5 hours to go to a mall!  Here I can just walk out of my classroom and cross the street and I am there.  So awesome!  The mall also has a university canteen in it called "Academic Restaurant."  My faculty, the university building, and the mall are all very new and modern buildings!  I didn't think I would like the new, modern buildings in such an old town, but it is actually really neat!  I am very happy that I will have several classes here. :) Pictures to come soon!

What a wonderful first weekend here!